Real-time Linux leads kernel v6.12's list of new features

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It took its own sweet time -- over 20 years! -- but real-time Linux finally made it into the mainline Linux kernel.  It's baked inside Linux kernel version 6.12. This is a major new release.

Linux 6.12's standout feature is the long-awaited inclusion of real-time "PREEMPT_RT" support in the mainline kernel. This capability dramatically improves the performance of real-time applications by making kernel processes preemptible. Real-time Linux now works in 32-bit and 64-bit Intel/AMD systems, 64-bit ARM, and RISC-V architectures.

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Another major addition is the new extensible scheduler, sched_ext, which leverages eBPF technology and grants users more control over process scheduling and prioritization. Specifically, scheduling decisions can be tailored to specific workloads and use cases, providing eBPF developers with significant performance improvements for some applications.

Put it all together, and the Linux kernel will now be fully preemptible. This enables Linux to respond to events within microseconds, which is crucial for applications that require precise timing, such as industrial control systems, robotics, and audio production.

Linux 6.12 also brings enhanced support for various hardware platforms:

Initial mainline support was added for the Raspberry Pi 5.More AMD RDNA4 enablement work paves the way for next-gen Radeon graphics cards.Xe2 graphics support for Intel Lunar Lake and Battlemage is now considered stable.Improved support for Wacom drawing tablets, including high-resolution scrolling and better touch ring interaction.

The kernel also supports several new devices, including the ARM-powered GameForce Ace gaming handheld and ODROID-M15 and ODROID-M2 single-board computers.

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Several file systems also received updates:

XFS gains support for block sizes larger than page size.EROFS now supports mounting filesystem images stored in files.Improvements to Btrfs, exFAT, FUSE, F2FS, and Bcachefs file systems.NTFS now provides more info on mount namespaces.

Linux 6.12 also comes with QR error codes for Linux's kernel and the Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) panic screens. This makes debugging Linux failures much easier than trying to navigate a flood of text error messages, 

Linus Torvalds, who these days spends far more time managing Linux code than he does writing it, contributed a new method for user-space address masking. The net effect of this is to speed up some memory processes.

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Torvalds also worked on a minor patch by kernel developer Josh Poimboeuf that led to major performance improvements. This patch to the 64-bit copy_from_user() function has led to a 2.6% improvement within Intel's "will it scale" per-thread-ops benchmark.

Rust programmers will be pleased to see numerous small improvements to Rust support in Linux, including better Rust documentation for Linux developers.   

Looking ahead, Linux 6.12 is expected to become this year's Long-Term Support (LTS) kernel version, which means it will receive support for two years. With its extensive list of improvements and new capabilities, Linux kernel 6.12 represents a substantial step forward for the open-source operating system, particularly in real-time computing, hardware support, and overall performance.